LYNN ? A partnership between Lynn’s largest employer and North Shore Community College (NSCC) aims to train machinists and find the top candidates good-paying jobs at small shops in the region.General Electric Co. has teamed with NSCC to offer a two-year skilled machinist program, which includes an on-the-job training component.Richard Gorham, spokesman for GE Lynn, said the students will work at the company’s River Works aircraft engine manufacturing operation as part of their technical education.”It’s a good, positive step,” Gorham said. “We hope to provide opportunities for folks in the community to learn certain skills and get a job. Hopefully, some of those folks will be employed here, and the ones we can’t take will find employment with another area business.”The college and the corporation jointly designed the pilot program to generate new opportunities in the machining profession, Gorham said.The fast-paced, two-year program combines an initial six-month classroom experience with on-the-job training at GE. An estimated 15-20 students will be chosen from applicants at the North Shore Career Centers in Lynn and Salem to participate in the first session. Classes are slated to begin in the first quarter of 2011, most likely in mid-to-late February.North Shore Workforce Investment Board (WIB) Executive Director Mary Sarris described the program as an excellent way to train people for well-paying jobs that are opening up in the region.”The college and GE are really throwing their heart and soul into this,” she said. It’s a good thing for the people who live in Lynn and the North Shore.”WIB has been trying to obtain grants for the program. Sarris explained the impact of GE is multiplied because it’s a large company. “But there are a lot of smaller machine shops in the area and all of them are looking for skilled labor,” she said. “GE is already hiring people with these skills. They are advertising for skilled machinists. We had over 1,500 folks come into the career centers to apply for those jobs.”Students in the program will learn math skills that dove-tail with the potential job openings, she said, adding that course work will include English communications skills and a class on introduction to manufacturing.”They’ll learn about lean manufacturing, which is a technique companies use these days to do things right the first time, the cheapest way possible and with the highest degree of quality,” she said. “There’s a lot of teamwork that goes into it. People know what is expected of them. They have daily goals to meet.”Another manufacturing technique, known as Sigma Six, will also be presented during the program. “It allows folks to find where mistakes are likely to happen and improves the system so those mistakes won’t happen,” Sarris said.NSCC President Wayne Burton asserted the program will benefit Lynn as well as GE. “This much-needed initiative brings to the forefront the expertise of GE’s machining practices and the academic excellence of North Shore Community College,” he said. “It should have positive economic impact on the participants and the local community, bringing 21st century middle skills to the diverse workforce we serve.”Middle skills are those jobs that typically require the candidate to have more than a high school diploma but less than a bachelor’s degree, according to NSCC spokesman Linda Brantley.”It could be jobs that require an associate’s degree or something more, but not a bachelor’s degree,” Brantley said.Students who successfully complete the first year of study and hands-on training at GE will receive a Certificate of Manufacturing Technology and be accepted into the second year of the program. Those who complete the entire two-year program earn an associate’s degree in Manufacturing Technology from NSCC and will be granted a job interview at GE, according to Gorham.The program allows students to follow either a skilled machinist or machine repair path.”We’re very excited about the prospects for t